If you are studying Eating Behaviour you may be interested in this new piece of research that suggests that obese individuals have fewer pleasure receptors and overeat to compensate. The study is relevant for both "explanations for the success and failure of dieting" and "biological explanations of obesity"

The quality of life of adolescents who think they are too fat is worse than for adolescents who really are obese. This was a result of the all Germany Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) of the Robert Koch Institute, as presented by Bärbel-Maria Kurth and Ute Ellert in the current edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008, 105[23]: 406-12).